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Autocephaly, in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 and Oriental Orthodox
Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christianity Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus....
 churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. When an ecumenical council
Ecumenical council

An ecumenical council is a conference of the bishops of the whole Christian Church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
 or a high-ranking bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
, such as a patriarch
Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
 or other primate
Primate (religion)

Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christianity churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
, releases an ecclesiastical province
Ecclesiastical Province

An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian Christian Church, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church Churches and in the Anglican Communion....
 from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in full communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting autocephaly.






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Autocephaly, in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
 and Oriental Orthodox
Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christianity Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus....
 churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. When an ecumenical council
Ecumenical council

An ecumenical council is a conference of the bishops of the whole Christian Church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
 or a high-ranking bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
, such as a patriarch
Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
 or other primate
Primate (religion)

Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christianity churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
, releases an ecclesiastical province
Ecclesiastical Province

An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian Christian Church, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Church Churches and in the Anglican Communion....
 from the authority of that bishop while the newly independent church remains in full communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with the hierarchy to which it then ceases to belong, the council or primate is granting autocephaly. For example, the Cypriot Orthodox Church
Cypriot Orthodox Church

The ancient Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus is one of the Eastern Orthodox Church organization independent Eastern Orthodox churches, which are in full communion and in doctrinal agreement with one another but not all subject to one patriarch....
 was granted autocephaly by the Council of Ephesus
Council of Ephesus

The First Council of Ephesus was held in 431 at the Church of Mary in Ephesus, Asia Minor. The council was called due to the contentious teachings of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople....
 and is ruled by the Archbishop of Cyprus
Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is an island country situated in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, west of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, south of Turkey and north of Egypt....
, who is not subject to any higher ecclesiastical authority, although his church remains in full communion
Full communion

Full communion is a term used in Christianity ecclesiology to describe the relationship of communion , with mutually recognized sharing of the same essential doctrines, between a Christian community and other communities or between that community and individuals....
 with the other Eastern Orthodox churches. Similarly, the Georgian Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly (independent) in 466 by the Patriarchate of Antioch
Antioch

Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the nearer East and was a cradle of gentile hi...
, the Tewahedo Church
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is an Oriental Orthodoxy church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Christianity until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by List of Coptic Popes, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria....
 of Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
 was granted autocephaly by the Coptic pope
List of Coptic Popes

The following is a list of all the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria who have led the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and have succeeded the Apostle Mark the Evangelist in the office of Bishop of Alexandria, who founded the Church in the 1st century, and therefore marked the beginning of Christianity in Africa....
 in 1950, and the Orthodox Church in America
Orthodox Church in America

The Orthodox Church in America is an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox church in North America. Its Primate is Metropolitan Jonah , who was elected on November 12, 2008, and was formally installed on December 28, 2008....
 was granted autocephaly by the Patriarch of Moscow in 1970. (The Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, headquartered in New York City, is an eparchy of the Church of Constantinople. Its current primate is Archbishop Demetrios of America....
 in North America is not autocephalous, but is subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
).

Autonomy

One step short of autocephaly is "autonomy". A church that is autonomous has its highest-ranking bishop, such as an archbishop or metropolitan, appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but is self-governing in all other respects.

While autocephalous does mean self-governing, it literally means "self-headed". Kephalos means "head" in Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
. Hence, autocephalous denotes self-headed, or a head unto itself, while autonomous literally means "self-legislated", or a law unto itself. Nomos is the Greek for "law'.

Controversy

"Over the last half century few subjects have provoked so much controversy in the Orthodox world as autocephaly. One need only mention the unedifying disputes between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople concerning the status of the churches of Poland, Czechoslovakia and America. Disagreement has centered on the way in which autocephalous status is attained. To put matters in simplest terms, according to the Russian Church, any autocephalous church has the right to grant canonical independence to one of its parts. According to Constantinople, on the other hand, only an ecumenical council can definitively establish an autocephalous church, and any interim arrangements depend upon approbation by Constantinople, acting in its capacity as the mother church and first among equals."


See also

  • List of Orthodox Churches
    List of Orthodox Churches

    Orthodox Churches belong mainly to two groups, Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy. Dialogues aimed at achieving full communion between them are in progress, with the hope of overcoming the schism that has divided them since the Council of Chalcedon in 451....
  • Eastern Orthodox Church organization
    Eastern Orthodox Church organization

    This article covers the organization of the Eastern Orthodox Churches rather than the doctrines, traditions, practices, or other aspects of Eastern Orthodox Church....
  • Episcopal polity
    Episcopal polity

    Episcopal polity is a form of Ecclesiastical polity which is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop ....


External links

  • , an OrthodoxWiki article
  • Article in Catholic Encyclopedia
    Catholic Encyclopedia

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press....


Category:Eastern Orthodoxy